Archives for April 2013

I saw this article on my Timeline on Facebook and since my husband has heart disease, I felt it was fitting to post to my site for others to understand that High Cholesterol Does Not Cause Heart Disease!!! We realized this when we moved to Florida and started under the care of Dr. Michael Varveris who has truly helped us through the maze of what is and is not the cause of heart disease. Please read on and share with your family and friends who are also battling heart disease. This is definitely worth the read!

First of all, it is important to understand that that “risk factor” does not mean the same thing as “cause”. A risk factor is a characteristic that is associated with a diagnosis. For example, for women, being tall is associated with breast cancer. Does that mean that being tall causes breast cancer? Of course not.

It is also important to understand cholesterol is an essential component of our cell membranes, it acts as an anti-oxidant, it is a precursor for the synthesis of vitamin D as well as bile for digesting fats, and is the only source out of which our steroid hormones, such as cortisol, as well as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone which are key to reproduction, can be made. Therefore it is safe to say that without cholesterol we would not survive.

Cholesterol is also the precursor to calcitrol, the steroid hormone that regulates calcium levels in our bodies by helping us absorb calcium from our food, thus playing a key role in the mineralization of our bones and teeth. Cholesterol is also manufactured in the glial cells of the brain to aid with synapses.

Cholesterol is used by our bodies to repair lesions in the arteries. Dr. Mary Enig, fat researcher, suggests that blaming cholesterol for heart disease is something like blaming firefighters for starting fires. Is it really a good idea to reduce our arteries’ firefighters? The key to stopping heart disease is to stop the lesions (fires) in the arteries from occurring in the first place, by minimizing glycation by eating less sugar and high fructose corn syrup, and minimizing free radical damage by not consuming refined and therefore rancid vegetable oils.

Our bodies consider cholesterol to be so essential to our survival, that every cell in our body can manufacture it as needed. If we eat little or no cholesterol, our bodies manufacture more, and if we eat a lot, our bodies don’t manufacture as much. This way our cholesterol levels maintain homeostasis irrespective of our diet, and this is the reason it is so difficult to reduce or raise cholesterol levels much with diet alone.

Dr. Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, who wrote the book The Cholesterol Myths, goes through study after study destroying the idea that high cholesterol levels are the cause of heart disease. In the Framingham heart study done near Boston that spanned 30 years , the researchers concluded that high cholesterol was a risk factor for heart disease, but when one really dissects the data, one must question how they came to that conclusion. For example, when the participants of the study are plotted on a graph it clearly shows that those with cholesterol levels between 182 and 222 did not survive as long as those with higher cholesterol levels of between 222 and 261. The study shows that about half the people with heart disease had low cholesterol, and half the people without heart disease had high cholesterol.

Most studies have found that for women, high cholesterol is not a risk factor for heart disease at all – in fact, the death rate for women is five times higher in those with very low cholesterol. In a Canadian study that followed 5000 healthy middle-aged men for 12 years, they found that high cholesterol was not associated with heart disease at all. And in another study done at the University Hospital in Toronto that looked at cholesterol levels in 120 men that previously had heart attacks, they found that just as many men that had second heart attacks had low cholesterol levels as those that had high. The Maoris of New Zealand die of heart attacks frequently, irrespective of their cholesterol levels. In Russia, it is low cholesterol levels that are associated with increased heart disease. The Japanese are often cited as an example of a population that eat very little cholesterol and have a very low risk of heart disease. But the Japanese that moved to the US and continued to eat the traditional Japanese diet had heart disease twice as often as those that maintained the Japanese traditions but ate the fatty American diet. This suggests that it is something else, like stress perhaps, that is causing the heart disease.

These are but a small sample of the studies that contradict the idea that cholesterol is the villain in heart disease. So why has this idea held on so long? Perhaps pharmaceutical companies and the processed-food industry have a lot to gain by keeping this belief alive. Statin drugs (Lipitor, Mevacor, Zocor etc.) are mega money makers, and they definitely do lower cholesterol, but if high cholesterol does not cause heart disease, why are they necessary?

Furthermore, statin drugs may not lower overall mortality rates, as lower cholesterol levels seem to be associated with higher rates of cancer. Statin drugs work by blocking the synthesis of mevalonate, which is a vital step in the body’s synthesis of cholesterol. By blocking this step, every following step is also blocked, and this is a problem, because the synthesis of Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone) and squalene, both precursors to cholesterol, is also blocked. Coenzyme Q10 is very important for heart function, it acts as an antioxidant in conjunction with Vitamin E, and it is important in energy metabolism in the mitochondria of muscles, which is why muscle pain is a common side effect of statin drugs. Coenzyme Q10 is important for healthy brain function as well, and when Coenzyme Q10 levels are low, through statin use or otherwise, memory is effected. Squalene is also an antioxidant and is a potent cancer fighter. If you are on statin drugs, supplementing with Coenzyme Q10 and squalene may be very helpful.

I realize that suggesting that cholesterol levels are not associated with heart disease goes against current dogma. I am not making this suggestion in order to create controversy. After looking at the evidence, I am convinced that we are going down the wrong path. I am not alone in thinking this way – there are more and more scientists and physicians that believe that cholesterol and saturated fat stand wrongly accused. For me, the epidemiological evidence is most convincing. If we ate saturated fat and cholesterol in the form of animal fats, eggs, and full-fat dairy liberally for millennia and were heart-disease free up until the early 1900s, and just as we reduced our consumption of these foods and replaced them with sugar, vegetable oils and processed food, heart disease rates began to climb – to me it seems rather obvious that we are putting the blame on the wrong thing. Feel free not to believe this idea, but please don’t simply dismiss it out of hand, either. If you have high cholesterol and you are taking, or thinking about taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, please read The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease so that you can make an informed decision regarding this important issue. Two other very well researched books worth reading, written by scientists but geared to the lay person are Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by Dr. Weston A. Price, on primitive cultures, their health and their eating habits versus more modern cultures, their health and their eating habits (probably the most important book on nutrition ever written), and Mary Enig’s book on lipid chemistry, Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer For Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and Cholesterol. These books are each very different from each other, but they will open your eyes to the other side of the argument, and only then will you be able to come to an informed conclusion on this issue.

Contact: Tim Alborg
(770) 595-0190
Georgia Power: No Solar for Next 20 Years

ATLANTA – Wednesday and Thursday, members of the Georgia Public Service Commission and their staff quizzed experts from investor-owned utility Georgia Power about their 2013 Integrated Resource Plan.

Solar industry representatives asked Georgia Power why they had no additional solar resources in their plan. Shane Owl-Greason from Georgia Solar Utilities, Inc. said that while the solar industry was interested in working with Georgia Power to create additional economic opportunities and jobs for the state with additional solar projects, it didn’t appear from its filings with the Public Service Commission that the Company had the same interests.

“It’s troubling that left to its own devices, Georgia Power has no plan for more solar energy in our state beyond their current plans which will, after full deployment, supply less than 1% of customers’ energy from solar,” Owl-Greason said. “We want to make sure that ratepayers benefit from using our greatest natural resource, sunlight, leading to lower electric rates due to sunlight being a no-cost fuel. This is the Commission’s opportunity to insure ratepayers and Georgia don’t miss this boat.”

Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald noted that Georgia Power’s parent company Southern Company was buying solar energy from states like California.

“These jobs and these taxes are going to go to California,” McDonald said. “From this commissioner’s standpoint, that’s very disappointing.”

LDL and HDL are not the best indicators of cardiovascular disease. If you or someone you know are at risk for cardiovascular disease, please read this article. At the bottom of the article, Dr. Mercola shares how you can get the right blood test done, even if your Doctor won’t order it. You are your own best health advocate, don’t take no for an answer, you’re life or someone you know, may depend on it.

Are You Self-employed? Realtor, Electrician, Groomer, Internet Marketer…Do you work from your home? Here are 5 Audit-Proofing Tips for the Self Employed…by Bonnie Lee

Five Audit-Proofing Tips for the Self Employed

When you’re self employed filing a Schedule C with your tax return, your chances of being audited are greater than if you were a wage earner.

Why? Because the IRS suspects that you will attempt to either hide income or write off personal expenses as business deductions. Let’s face it, if all you are reporting on your tax return is income from a W2, what’s there to audit? Even if you input the numbers wrong, the IRS will match it up with the copy it got from your employer and send you a correction letter along with an adjustment to your refund or tax liability. According to various reports, audits of the self-employed are on the rise, here’s what you can do to keep the taxman off your back:

1. Use a professional software system to track the income and expenses of your business. Your credibility increases in the eyes of an IRS agent if your tax return is based on professionally-prepared financial statements, especially if maintained by an outside firm. You can use the same software to track your personal income and deductible expenses as well.

2. Document red flags. You are allowed to deduct all “ordinary and necessary business expenses” which translates into thinking in terms of “Would I make this purchase if I didn’t have this business?” If the answer is no, than you more than likely have a deductible business expense. But it’s important to know the rules and to have proper documentation to substantiate the deduction. Some expenses receive considerably more scrutiny than others.

The IRS loves to investigate automobile expenses as taxpayers are required to keep a mileage log, which can be a lot of work. Even though I have met only client who kept a log, I’ve represented clients in numerous audits and found other ways to substantiate the deduction to the satisfaction of the auditor. Here are some tips:

– If you use an appointment book or calendar, save it along with your copy of the tax return. A mileage log can be reconstructed from those pages.

– Save vehicle repair receipts as the odometer reading is recorded on them and total mileage for the year can be extrapolated if there is more than one receipt.

Record your beginning and ending odometer reading in your appointment book on Jan. 1 and again on Dec. 31.

– Travel, meals and entertainment expenses are close runner ups when it comes to scrutiny. Go to www.irs.gov and read Publication 463 to determine what you can and can’t deduct. Here’s what you need to know:

– Travel, especially to vacation destinations like Las Vegas or Hawaii should be documented with more than purchase receipts to prove business intent. Save things like flyers advertising the trade show or the continuing education seminar or letters from prospective clients at that location in your tax file to prove the purpose of the trip was primarily for business.

– On receipts for meals and entertainment mark the name of the person entertained and a brief note describing the business purpose.

With more people working remotely, home office expenses have become another favorite target of the IRS. Here’s what you should know:

– Take photographs of the house and the office area. The photos will serve two purposes: they will show the proportion of the business area compared to the personal living area to substantiate the amount of space claimed as well prove that there is in fact a business area.

– Know the rules: The home office must be your principle place of business and must be used exclusively and on a regular basis for business purposes.

3.) Document sources of all income. If you are audited, the first thing the IRS agent will do is add up all of the deposits from your personal and business bank accounts. If more money went into the bank than was declared on your tax return, the agent will want to know where the money came from and whether or not the income is taxable. If you use QuickBooks for your personal and business books, you will automatically tie out this income, but you still need proof. If the income you record is not taxable (e.g. gifts, inheritances, loans, transfers from personal funds) keep a copy of the check or document that accompanies the income to prove the source is not taxable.

4.) Let a professional prepare your income tax return. Self-prepared returns are more likely to be audited because the IRS thinks a nonprofessional has limited knowledge. Tax law is complex. And if you are self-employed, no matter how small your business, your tax return is now a complex creature.

5. Rethink your legal form. Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships are less likely to be audited, but that should not be the sole reason to incorporate. Discuss this option with a tax professional and your attorney before making any changes.

Bonnie Lee is an Enrolled Agent admitted to practice and representing taxpayers in all fifty states at all levels within the Internal Revenue Service. She is the owner of Taxpertise in Sonoma, CA and the author of Entrepreneur Press book, “Taxpertise, The Complete Book of Dirty Little Secrets and Hidden Deductions for Small Business that the IRS Doesn’t Want You to Know.” Follow Bonnie Lee on Twitter at BLTaxpertise and at Facebook.